Tools
Three estimators for the moments that decide a New York deal - what a buyer wires at closing, what a seller actually keeps, and whether buying beats renting over the years you plan to stay.
The purchase
Assumptions you can change
Estimated cash due at closing
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The sale
Cost of sale
Capital gains
Enter what you originally paid and this estimates the tax on your gain. Leave it at zero to skip the tax section entirely.
Estimated net proceeds
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If you buy
If you rent
The long view
The verdict
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Disclaimer:
These figures are built on current New York State and New York City tax law and customary closing practice. Title, bank and building-level fees vary by lender, managing agent and offering plan, and co-op flip taxes differ building to building. Cornice Realty Group does not provide legal or tax advice - run the final numbers with your attorney and accountant before you commit.
Mansion tax 1% at $1M, stepping to 3.9% at $25M, applied to the full price rather than
marginally.
NYC transfer tax 1% below $500K, 1.425% at or above.
NYS transfer tax 0.4% below $3M, 0.65% at or above.
Mortgage recording tax 1.8% on loans below $500K, 1.925% at or above, net of the customary 0.25%
lender share. Does not apply to co-op shares.
Mansion tax does not apply.
NYC transfer tax 1.425% at $500K or below, 2.625% above.
NYS transfer tax 0.4% below $2M, 0.65% at or above - a lower threshold than residential.
Mortgage recording tax 2.05% on loans below $500K, 2.80% at or above, with no lender-paid share.
Due-diligence line items are illustrative and should be scoped to the asset.
Federal 0% / 15% / 20% long-term brackets at $49,450 and $545,500 single, $98,900 and
$613,700 filing jointly, stacked on top of your other income.
NIIT 3.8% above $200K single / $250K joint of modified AGI.
Depreciation recapture 25% federal on unrecaptured Section 1250 gain - never covered by the
Section 121 exclusion.
Section 121 $250K single / $500K joint, if you owned and lived there two of the last five years.
New York taxes gains as ordinary income: state 3.9%-10.9%, plus a NYC resident tax of
3.078%-3.876%. Nonresidents prepay 10.9% of the gain at closing on Form IT-2663, credited back on the
nonresident return.
Defaults reflect a 30-year fixed rate near 6.5% as of August 2026. The model compares net worth under each path and assumes the renter invests both the cash they didn't put down and any monthly savings. It deliberately excludes the mortgage interest and property tax deductions, which move real after-tax outcomes further in the buyer's favor.
Transfer, mansion and recording taxes are statutory and identical across the five boroughs. Everything else here is a market figure calibrated to Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan practice: attorneys at $2,500-4,500, title insurance on the TIRSA schedule at 0.4-0.5%, searches and closer fees around $1,000, managing agent and move-in fees of $500-1,000, co-op flip taxes of 1-3%, residential commissions of 5-6% and investment-sales commissions of 2-3%. Every one of them is negotiable and worth checking against your own quotes.